Because providing water to potted plants is of the upmost importance for maintaining a healthy atmosphere for the plant, a number of self-watering container systems have been developed. These systems generally include a lower reservoir for containing a liquid, such as water, and an upper portion that contains a growing medium, such as dirt, and the plant.
Various devices and methods for transferring the water from the bottom to the top have been devised, including wicks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,144 to Green discloses a system which includes a feed tube, a reservoir and a water tower. As explained in Green, water travels from the tower through a port to the reservoir. The water is then absorbed through the feed tube, which is packed with sand and disposed within a planter, by capillary action.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,953 to Delogne discloses wicks, which extend from a plant container into a water-filled reservoir; water is thus supplied to plants therein by capillary action.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,577 to Holtkamp discloses a similar invention which provides for capillary transmission of water from a water containing tray to a pot by way of a water pervious pad having one or more hinged, movable tabs which can be bent downwardly through an opening for submergence in the water in the tray.
A drawback to this type of plant container construction relates to the inability to adequately transfer sufficient liquid to keep the growing medium at the proper moisture level without the aid of heat for the wicking process.
Another known approach is to create a small area where the growing medium extends into the reservoir. However, without a sufficient volume of growing medium, the liquid is inadequately distributed throughout the growing medium.
An additional drawback to the prior art relates to the connectors utilized to connect the liquid reservoir to the growth medium container. The prior art connectors are difficult to align and assemble, and many require tools for proper assembly. There are ergonomic needs that a self-watering planter system must satisfy in order to achieve acceptance by the end user. The system must be easily and quickly assembled using minimal hardware and requiring a minimal number of tools. Further, the system should not require excessive strength to assemble or include heavy component parts. Moreover, the system must assemble together in such a way so as not to detract from the aesthetic appearance of the self-watering planter system.
Thus, the present invention provides a self-watering planter system which overcomes the disadvantages of prior art self-watering systems. The self-watering planter system of the present invention not only provides for relative ease of assembly, it also permits assembly without the need for tools. The present invention also provides a self-watering planter system which evenly distributes liquid throughout the growing medium, thereby eliminating the need for daily plant watering.